Gurrkin and his Lucario thought, and discussed, at length about the idea of battling a Mega Starcario or whatever that combination of Pokémon and Mega Stone would produce.

While that was going on, Ash went over to Zoroark to check on him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm absolutely fine, thanks Ash!" Zoroark replied. "Just one request… can you help me if I do anything for the next few hours that requires… um, bones?"

"Sure," Ash agreed. "Or, I can return you?"

"That would probably be better," Zoroark admitted. "Why does my everything ache this time?"

"I think Zacian once told me that neither she nor her brother can Dynamax," Ash frowned. "That could be something to do with it."

"Maybe," Zoroark said. "Anyway, I'm going to take that offer of being Returned."

Ash obliged, then turned to Starly. "How are you feeling?"

"Eager, but not too eager," Starly replied. "You know, like I'm supposed to. Lucario taught me about that… emotions should not rule you, but you should be willing to rule them."

He hovered in place. "There's a lot of that kind of thing, really."

"We have come to a decision," Gurrkin said. "Lucario is content with battling Starly without the intercession of Mega Stones."

He shook his head. "I may be a Mega Evolution Guru, but sometimes I lean more towards the idea that some things should not be known by mortals."

"Ash is friends with several immortals," Arc said. "Depending on how you define mortal the number varies, but it is always greater than zero."

"Of course he is," Gurrkin replied. "Now, whenever you are ready."

Gurrkin's Lucario took a ready stance, then opened with an Aura Sphere.

Starly darted to the side, and used Force Palm to burst the Aura Sphere as it went past before following up with a Focus Blast that blasted a crater in the rock floor.

"Bone Rush!" Ash called, prompting Starly to conjure a Bone Rush staff in his claws, and he darted in to attack with it – a move that led to Lucario forming his own Bone Rush staff, not for attack but for self-defence.

"Shatter them both!" Gurrkin ordered. "Then Thunder Punch!"

A Force Palm broke both Bone Rushes at once, and Lucario lashed out – managing a glancing blow along Starly's flank, which sent sparks fizzing out in all directions.

"Shadow Ball, make it a big one!" Ash said. "Then deliver it by wing!"

"Dark Pulse," Gurrkin decided.

"Aura Sphere in the other wing!" Ash amended. "Throw them, Aura first!"

Starly did a balletic spin, flinging the Aura Sphere, then twisted himself around so he was spinning the other way and threw the Shadow Ball.

The first orb collided with Lucario's Dark Pulse, splintering both into a cloud of blue and black sparkles which dissipated in a moment, and the Shadow Ball whipped through before detonating – where Lucario had been, before he dodged out of the way.

"Right, I'll deliver it close-in next time," Starly decided, then folded his wings and dropped just in time to avoid Lucario's Ice Punch attack.

"Mach Punch!" Ash ordered. "Then Aura Sphere – and use Extremespeed to get in close!"

"Mach Punch as well!" Gurrkin called.

"Those two Pokémon seem very similar," Serena said.

"Yes, Starly's been trained by Aaron's Lucario," Lokoko told her. "He's taken to it quite well."

"Watch the power of Aura!" Starly called, flying up into the air, and fired out a beam of condensed blue light that made the whole building shake.

"Hmm," Lokoko added. "I wonder who on Ash's team is the best architect? We might need to do a few repairs…"

"I believe I have come to three conclusions," Gurrkin's Lucario announced, arms spread wide. "Firstly, I am impressed; your trainers, in both senses, have prepared you well for this battle. Secondly, were there such a thing as an honorary Lucario, I would have no problems naming you as one."

Starly made a vague noise that sounded like he was happy, though it was a bit hard to tell for sure.

"Thirdly, this is probably going to hurt," Lucario said, then finally finished peeling off the ceiling and went whud into the arena floor.

"I'm not sure who actually won that," Gurrkin admitted, scratching his head. "Are they both still capable of movement?"

He paused. "Are either of them?"

"Good question," Ash replied. "That last Close Combat was probably Starly pushing himself past his limits, but it worked out pretty well, so I'm not sure either… well, it wasn't officially part of the gym challenge, so we can call it a really good bit of experience? And then we don't need to work out which of our Pokémon technically won."

"I have a question," Starly wheezed. "Why isn't there such a thing as an honorary Lucario?"

"Good question," Lucario replied. "I suppose there's no reason why not. Also, you're now one."

"Thank you," Starly said, faintly.

"So, where next?" Serena asked. "You've got… what is it, three badges now? I think?"

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "And, hmm… I could ask Arc, but I think they're a bit busy."

"Roar of Time," Arc declared, floating in the middle of the gym in full golden resplendence. "Playing roar dot wav."

A slightly tinny roaring sound came out of the speakers of Ash's phone, and the significant structural damage the battles had done unhappened with a glitter of blue light.

"Does this mean the building's still as old as it's meant to be?" Korrina asked. "I think you're supposed to use only certain techniques when fixing historically significant buildings, right?"

"Be not afraid," Arc told her. "I have reverted the damage, then reapplied the time. As far as the building is concerned, there was not a battle here but the correct amount of time has actually passed."

"Yeah, it's like how Aten's Pokéball is an antique we manufactured with the help of time travel," Ash supplied. "Anyway… so, we're… west of Lumiose City, right? Are there any other gyms west of Lumiose City, that we should go to before heading back there to take on the Lumiose Gym?"

"There's Coumarine," Korrina suggested. "It's a Grass-type gym, so your Fletchinder and Hawlucha would probably have the advantage there and your Froakie would be at a disadvantage, if you pay any attention to Types which you mostly don't."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Ash decided. "What do you think, everyone?"

Clemont shrugged. "I don't much mind, Ash, Coumarine sounds as good as anywhere."

"Yes, I think it's mostly you deciding where we go for now," Fennekin said. "That might change, though, if Serena and I get into doing Showcases like we've been planning."

She flicked her tail. "Imagine it! We might ask that you go into towns occasionally… yeah, it's not really going to be much different, is it?"

On the road north out of Shalour, the friends met a trainer called Blake.

"Wow!" Blake gasped. "I recognize you!"

He pointed at Clemont. "Aren't you the Gym Leader from Lumiose City? The one who built a robot gym leader?"

"That's me," Clemont agreed. "That… took a bit of work to get right…"

"Well, I'm still working on being able to beat the robot gym leader," Blake went on. "My Meowstic's a really versatile Pokémon, but he's just one Pokémon… I'm not sure if I want to keep doing the Gym Challenge, actually. I haven't met another Pokémon who I even want to catch, and Meowstic feels like enough for me."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Ash said. "Some people are just like that, and what matters is having Pokémon you can get on well with and who you can work with to do what you want to do… so if you've got just one partner Pokémon, that's fine! It means you've got a good friend."

"It's a bit weird hearing you say that, given how many times you've challenged Pokémon Leagues," Chespin said.

"Well, yeah, because I like doing that and so do my Pokémon," Ash replied. "But obviously not everyone completes the Gym Challenge and goes to the Pokémon League, otherwise there'd be way too many people trying to get in and it'd take six months to narrow it down to the final."

"Calculating," Arc stated. "Six months at ten hours per day is approximately one thousand eight hundred hours. This would allow approximately one hundred thousand trainers to be eliminated at five hundred battles per hour, which is practical if they are mostly against Ash."

"Exactly!" Ash said. "And I don't want to spend all that time doing League battles, I'd rather travel around and meet new Pokémon and then go to the League."

"That's… a weird argument, but I guess I understand," Blake decided. "So it's okay if I just want to go home to meet my dad, and – and my dad."

"You're going to meet your dad twice?" Bonnie asked, amazed. "Is he like a mirror of himself? Or is your dad twins? Does it work like that?"

"No, I meant…" Blake began, then shook his head. "Never mind."

Then he blinked. "Wait, that girl sounded different the second time?"

"What are you doing back here, Blake?" a voice asked, belonging to a trainer who was coming down the road. "You didn't say you were coming home."

"I didn't know you were coming home!" Blake shot back. "I wouldn't have come back yet if I'd known!"

"And I'd have stayed away longer if I'd known!" the other trainer said. "Which is why I didn't tell you, so you couldn't mess this up like you always do!"

"What do you mean, I mess things up?" Blake said. "That's not how I remember it!"

"Of course it isn't!"

While the argument continued, the other trainer's Meowstic came over to Blake's Meowstic.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Blake's Meowstic replied. "Back to the old arguments, I guess."

"It was nice not having them," she said, nodding in unison with him. "If your trainer's staying, and so is mine, then meet me at the top of the roof tonight."

"Should I bring berry juice?" he asked.

"Why not," she said. "It's a date."

The other trainer was, as it transpired, Blake's brother Heath. They'd both grown up in a nearby mansion, and in between bickering and sniping at one another they managed to lead Ash and his friends to the mansion.

Not long after they arrived, the boys' father stood up.

"Heath? Blake?" he said. "I think you're both old enough now to face the trial."

"Trial?" Blake repeated, blankly. "What trial?"

"The trial that every generation of this family goes through," their father explained. "It's the trial to see who will inherit the mansion."

"A trial to – what!?" Heath gasped. "But – I'm the oldest, so-"

"Why should that matter?" Blake sniped.

"Listen closely!" their father said. "Somewhere around this mansion there is a treasure, and whichever one of you brings it back to me will inherit!"

"It'll be me!" Blake said.

"No way it will!" Heath replied, sharply. "It'll have to be me, because I deserve it, and-"

Ash's Zekrom came out of his Pokéball.

"I see the problem!" he announced, loudly. "And I have questions. Questions for both of you."

"I have a question too," Heath said. "Can you talk?"

"Of course I can talk!" Zekrom replied. "But I know what you're asking is can I talk in a language humans can understand, and the answer is no, but Lokoko is an Ideal translator. Now, speaking of being Ideal, I need to find out which of you is more Ideal to inherit the mansion so I can decide who to support."

"Should we be worried?" Clemont asked.

"Maybe?" Ash shrugged. "I should probably mention something… hey, Heath, Blake, if you want me to get Zekrom to back off just let me know!"

Blake looked uncertain for a moment, then shook his head.

"No way!" he said. "If I do then Zekrom's going to help Heath!"

"Indeed!" Zekrom agreed. "It would show you didn't consider me the Ideal assistant, and therefore you were not the Ideal one."

"So what do we do now?" Heath plucked up his courage to ask.

"Hmm," Zekrom said. "I didn't quite think far enough… aha! I know just what will work out if you're the Ideal claimant to the mansion! I will put you through a series of challenges, and judge how Ideally you complete them!"

He made his turbine whirr emphatically. "And, just to make sure that you're both on an ideally level playing field, you'll have to do them in the same situation, but at different times, and with no way of seeing what the other one did!"

About half an hour later, Heath entered a room with his Meowstic.

The furniture had almost all been somewhat haphazardly pushed to the side, and there was a table in the middle of the room with an envelope on it.

"Uh…" Heath began, then noticed a floating pink Pokémon in the corner of the room.

"Bonsoir," she said. "Je suis la caméramon."

"All right, I think?" Heath said, then picked up the envelope and opened it.

"...what?" he asked. "Make the most exotic sandwich? Most exotic sandwich wins?"

He looked at Clefairy. "Is this real?"

"Continuez, s'il vous plaît," Clefairy requested, waving her paw.

"Okay, uh…" Heath said. "You have ten minutes, your time starts now… uh oh, we'd better get going!"

"Do you actually think this is helping them?" Pikachu asked. "Also, who thought up these challenges?"

"Mostly Mew," Zekrom replied. "I have to admit that the second challenge where they have to eat the sandwich from the first challenge is particularly inspired. But yes, it is helping me work out which of them is more Ideal."

"You know their dad wanted them to work together, right?" Pikachu pressed. "It's pretty obvious. The secret treasure is their lost friendship."

"I am aware," Zekrom said. "That, however, is the Truth, while their individual Ideals are different as each of them wants to beat their brother."

He leaned down, to make his point more forcefully. "I am, very emphatically, not the Legendary of Compromise."

Oddly enough, Zekrom's methods did eventually get Heath and Blake to reconcile.

Mostly just to put up a united front about not doing the fifth task, which involved concealing a Pinap berry on their persons.

"So… was that an ideal outcome or not?" Clemont asked. "I completely lost track."

"I don't actually know," Zekrom admitted. "But it's close enough, so I'm calling it Ideal."

AN:

Task Pokémon Master, featuring Zek Davies.